Longtime Toll Middle School teacher dies

Gary Moskowitz

Dolores DeGrassi, a well-known teacher who taught in the Glendale

Unified School District for about 40 years, died recently at her

home in Glendale.

DeGrassi, 79, died Oct. 9 after a five-year battle with ovarian

cancer. About 200 people attended a public funeral service Wednesday

at Holy Family Church, said DeGrassi’s husband, Leonard. The burial

was at Holy Cross Cemetery.

DeGrassi taught Latin and world history at the former Toll Junior

High School and at Toll Middle School from 1952 to 1993, including a

one-year leave of absence. After retiring, she taught one class at

Toll for about three years, officials said.

Her Latin program at Toll earned the school numerous state awards,

and her ninth-graders routinely won competitions against high school

Latin students, officials said.

“She was definitely born to be a teacher,” Leonard DeGrassi said.

“To her, teaching was a mission and she was determined. I guess she

just loved it, that’s all.”

She was born Nov. 3, 1924, in Minneapolis. She moved to Glendale

in 1961 and met Leonard DeGrassi the same year, when the two taught

at Toll. They married in 1961.

DeGrassi taught students about civilizations each year by asking

one group of students to bury “artifacts” in the school yard and

asking a second group of students to dig them up and assess

information about mock civilizations, officials said. DeGrassi

appeared in numerous News-Press articles in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

“She was very creative, and she was a perfectionist,” said Vic

Pallos, the district spokesman. “Each year, Toll would win awards

over older students from high schools. She was that good.”

Tracy Adams, a GCC employee, took DeGrassi’s ninth-grade ancient

history class at Toll in 1983 and earned an A.

“Looking back, she was one of the best,” Adams said. “She was so

loud, you could hear her down the hall, acting things out. She was so

passionate about what she did. She gave a lot of information that

wasn’t in the textbook and she expected a lot in return.”

Leonard, 75, is a retired art history professor who teaches at

Glendale Community College. He created a memorial scholarship at the

college in DeGrassi’s name.

Surviving family members include her husband, Leonard; daughter,

Maria Colosimo; son, Paul; and grandson, Joey.